In the News

MIT ChemE welcomes new assistant professor Fikile R. Brushett

On December 3, 2012, MIT Chemical Engineering welcomed its latest faculty member: Assistant Professor Fikile R. Brushett. As of January 1, 2013, Prof. Brushett holds the Raymond A. & Helen E. St. Laurent Career Development Chair. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. In 2010, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Professor Paul J.A. Kenis. His research at UIUC focused on microfluidic fuel cells. At Illinois, Brushett was the recipient of a GEM Fellowship, a SURGE Fellowship, and a Harry G. Drickamer Research Fellowship. From 2010 to 2012, Brushett was a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) working with Dr. Jack Vaughey. At ANL, his research focused on non-aqueous redox flow batteries and developing in-situ imaging techniques for lithium-ion batteries.

A key societal challenge in 21st century will be the distribution of energy in an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable fashion. Professor Brushett’s research group focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of electrochemically-active materials and the development of electrochemical processes with an overarching goal of enabling clean energy technologies. To this end, his laboratory employs novel microfluidic and visualization approaches, in concert with more traditional electroanalytical and surface characterization techniques, to probe the fundamental processes that underlie the performance and durability of electrochemical systems. Building on this knowledge, he seeks to rationally design robust and cost-effective next-generation materials and systems for technologies that include fuel cells, electrolyzers, advanced batteries, flow batteries, and photovoltaics.